January 25
New edict on protective custody by the National Ministry of the Interior: Protective custody cannot be served in institutions of the justice system. Instead, in the future it must be completed in concentration camps. In the future the only agency that can commit prisoners to concentration camps is the National Headquarters of the Secret State Police. (Previously, it was, among others, the president of the government.)
January 26
Internal general edict by Himmler gives notice of comprehensive "measures" against "elements avoiding work." Employment offices are to report among others, those capable of work who have twice declined jobs that were offered, or those who left work after a short time.
March
In the spring the SS starts its own construction material production. Establishment of the SS-owned "Deutsche Erd--und Steinwerke GmbH" (German Soil and Stoneworks, Ltd.). First undertaking is a major brick factory in Sachsenhausen and one near Buchenwald. Business planning was followed by the completion of, and the staffing selections for, the concentration camps Mauthausen, Flossenburg, Natzweiler, and Neuengamme.
Mass arrests following the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria. For the first time thousands of foreigners are placed in German concentration camps.
Mass operation against asocials during March and April: so-called "work-shirkers" will be primarily assigned to Buchenwald.
March 21
The female prisoners at Moringen are transferred to the women's concentration camp Lichtenburg.
May 3
Construction starts on the concentration camp Flossenburg.
June 1
New, comprehensive operation against asocials (beggars, Gypsies, vagrants, bullies, prostitutes) in Austria and Germany. (The accomplishment of the difficult four-year-plan required the usage of all elements of society for labor).
July
Construction starts on the concentration camp Mauthausen near Linz, Austria.
August 17
Hitler directs that in case of a war the guard duties for concentration camps are to be taken over by older members of the "general SS." About 4,000 members over forty-five years of age are trained.
September
Construction starts on the concentration camp Neuengamme. It is initially a satellite labor camp of the concentration camp Sachsenhausen, but after June 4, 1940, it becomes an independent concentration camp.
October 1
Following the annexation of the Sudetenland, a wave of arrests of political opponents is started.
November 9
Due to the arrest of about 35,000 Jews during Kristallnacht, the number of prisoners in concentration camps increases from about 25,000 to about 60,000.
December 24
Heydrich advises the Gestapo leadership to investigate the reasons for the arrests of current prisoners, since the concentration camps are completely overfilled.
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